Long time no speak

After an unprecendented period whee I decided to focus on other facets of my life, I decided that I should actually do a post to account for what has happened since we last left off. (That and I promised Charlie I would do a how to write up based around his car).

So while I was slowly returning my turbo to its standard ride height in preparation for its WoF check, I was interrupted by an interesting burble from the end of the grove. In a few seconds this immaculate beastie showed up. 

And for the record yes the car really is that shiny in the flesh. The mission of the day was to reinsert the Tein Type Flex that the car had originally come fitted with. I will be doing a full feature on this car in the near future, but in the mean time, here's a write up on how to install coilovers in a CL1. Please note that as per anything on the internet, you should only ever do this at your own risk and I hold no responsibility for any mishaps you or your buddies may have if you are noobs attempting this for the first time. However, all you need is a cool head and a sense of logic and common sense and you will come out of it with a sweet ride with a Lush Garage approved ride height ;)

Step 1: Jack up the car, but undo the wheel nuts while the car is still on the ground. 

I chose the front tow hook as seen here as my jacking point. Secure the car with axle stands.

Step 2: Remove wheel and undo fork pinch bolt

Step 3: You have a choice, you can either undo the bottom fork bolt now, or if you are like me and had help, you can undo the tophat bolts now ala

Step 4: Once they are all undone, the stress should be relieved on the strut, and you can remove the bottom fork bolt. You will need a long bolt roughly thinner than the current fork bolt to hammer the other one out like so

Step 5: Once you have successfully hammered that bolt out, once again if you have help, feel free to ask said minion to stand on the hub and force it downward and then wiggle the strut free from the fork. Ta da. 1 side down. 3 more to go.

Step 6: Now you will need to adjust your ride height to the desired height using your C spanners like so

Here's another view of this process

Please note to also clean the threads and apply a liberal amount of grease on it as I get really peeved off when coilovers seize due to incompetent owners. Cue the blurry action shot

Step 7: Reinstallation is just a reversal of the removal process.Insert the strut into its cavity and immediately bolt the tophat nuts to hold the coilover in place and to stop you from having to require 6 limbs.

Like this

Step 8: Reinsert into fork, tighten the fork pinch bolt, and redo the bottom bolt. 

Yes, I really do have 3 hands....

Step 9: Check that you have torqued up all the bolts correctly, remount wheel, undo wheel nuts, lower car, and bask in the new found awesomeness that is a lowered car :D

Winning! If it was me, it would be lower, but this car isn't that sort of vehicle, so this height is bordering on too low. Final tweaks are required for a more appropriate ride height. 

Repeat for the other front side.

Now for the rears.

Step 1: Jack the car up as high as you can get it, and secure it with axle stands. Remove the wheels.

Step 2: Remove the rear eye bolt, and the rear upper radius arm to give you some space to wiggle out the strut. 

Step 3: Remove the rear trim and undo the top hat nuts for the rear struts

 

Height comparison of the struts

Step 4: Reinstall the rear struts

Now its just a reverse of removal. Torque up bolts, remount wheel and torque up wheel nuts, and drop the car to the ground and repeat on the other side.

Relax and have a nice healthy, nutritious mean of trans fat filled fish and chips and enjoy your new ride height and look forward to all the joys of owning a lowered car. Crabbing sideways over speedbumps, avoiding potholes like the plague, or in my case, avoiding cats eyes like the plague lol.

So here is a substandard picture (not taken by me thankfully) of the car's current state of affairs. Looks much much better no? However, as brilliant as it looks to me there are a few reliability issues to sort out, so all will happen in due time. 

In the mean time you may be wondering why my car still doesn't have a wof, well it turns out I have an addiction and in spite of my common sense and knowing better, I decided to buy another set of wheels, just in case I should ever get bored of my current stock.

Here's a photoshop of what the car might potentially end up looking like, minus a few minor details

Alas, as much as I would like to keep spewing forth unnecessary information, some things should be kept a secret and I am dead tired as I now train 5 days a week, so I will have to close this blog post here. Big thanks to Sanit for the pics, and Matt for the help over the weekend. See you on the blacktop everyone.